Let Me Tell You Something Read online

  This has been the most amazing experience of my life. Through all the heartache and the tears and the frustration, the laughter and the anger, I have absolutely no regrets. One day I will look back at this experience and say, “Wow, that was one hell of a ride.” I did that ride with my kids and my husband and I loved it. Thanks for coming on the ride with me.

  Affirmations

  I love affirmations. Every time I read one that touches me, I print it out and pin it to a corkboard in my office. I look at that board all the time, and I find endless inspiration in these sentences. I hope you like them too!

  My thoughts are under my control.

  You gotta love livin’, baby, ’cause dyin’ is a pain in the ass.

  —Frank Sinatra

  Critics don’t bother me because if I do badly, I know I’m bad before they even write it. And if I’m good, I know I’m good. I know best about myself, so a critic doesn’t anger me.

  —Frank Sinatra

  Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.

  —Francesca Reigler

  There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. Just don’t respond with encores.

  Don’t let yourself forget what it’s like to be sixteen.

  If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.

  Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith.

  Don’t let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.

  We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

  I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.

  —Audrey Hepburn

  Nothing is impossible, the word itself says “I’m possible.”

  —Audrey Hepburn

  We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.

  —May Sarton

  But better to be hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.

  —Khaled Hosseini

  Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.

  —Margaret Mitchell

  Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow.

  —Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros

  Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.

  —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.

  —Thomas Edison

  When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

  Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

  —Henry David Thoreau

  That’s the best revenge of all: happiness. Nothing drives people crazier than seeing someone have a good fucking life.

  —Chuck Palahniuk

  If you believe in yourself, have dedication and pride and never quit, you’ll be a winner.

  —Paul Bryant

  Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns. Just find your next adventure—do it well, enjoy it—and then, not now, think about what comes next.

  —Condoleezza Rice

  Life is like one big Mardi Gras. But instead of showing your boobs, show people your brain, and if they like what they see, you’ll have more beads than you know what to do with.

  —Ellen DeGeneres

  Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.

  —Steve Jobs

  If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. That’s the lesson. That lesson alone will save you a lot of grief. Even doubt means don’t.

  —Oprah Winfrey

  If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.

  —Mary Pickford

  Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal.

  —Mike Ditka

  We laugh a lot. That’s for sure. Sure beats the alternative, doesn’t it?

  —Betty White

  Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.

  —Bob Newhart

  Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

  —Marcus Tullius Cicero

  [Kids] don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.

  —Jim Henson

  Acknowledgments

  This book was a labor of love and I really want to thank the people who helped make it a reality.

  Lisa Sharkey, Amy Bendell, Paige Hazzan, and the team at Harper­Collins, thank you for having faith in me and believing in this project.

  Brian Dow, thank you so much for your support in dealing with the craziness that has become my life.

  And to Kevin Dickson, my partner in crime: we did it. I love you to death.

  Credits

  All photos courtesy of the author except page xx © Jerritt Clark/Getty Images.

  Copyright

  LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. Copyright © 2013 by Caroline Manzo. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  FIRST EDITION

  All photos courtesy the author except the photograph for Part I © Jerritt Clark/Getty Images.

  ISBN 978-0-06-221887-2

  EPub Edition © APRIL 2013 ISBN: 9780062218896

  13 14 15 16 17 DIX/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Photographic Insert

  This is me at two years old.Such a baby!

  One of my favorite photos of me at school. I thought that butterfly pin was the coolest thing.

  I’m about nine years old here—another classic school picture.

  Me and my brother Chris at our farmhouse in upstate New York. I’m about ten, and he’s six.

  Oh my God. This outfit, this makeup, this hair. I don’t even know what to say.

  Working in my father’s office in 1982. I was twenty-one.

  Al and me when we first started dating, at my house in Kinnelon, New Jersey.

  Albert and me with Aunt Josie, his favorite, at our wedding. July 7, 1984.

  Giving Albie his first bath. May 1986.

  Here I am with Christopher right after he was born. May 1989, Wayne General Hospital.

  Me with a young Lauren in the front door of our old house in Wayne, New Jersey. She’s waving good-bye to her daddy as he goes off to work.

  Here is a full family portrait of all five of us on the steps of the house in Wayne. (And yes, Chris is here—he’s in my belly!)

  I love this shot of all three of my kids. They’re four, five, and seven here.

  At the front steps of our new home in Franklin Lakes as it was being built.

  A vacation snap from a family trip to Boston.

  The kids all dressed up in their costumes visiting Al at The Brownstone on Halloween.

  I love this pic of me and Albie. He has such a great smile.

  Chris’s graduation from Ramapo High School. I’m such a proud mom!

  Me and Lauren after Chris’s graduation. We all went into the city for
dinner and ended up meeting Bill Clinton!

  Lauren and I had a ball getting dressed up in our finest English lady’s hats for my brother Jamie’s wedding in Chicago.

  Such a great experience getting the chance to visit the Rolling Stone offices with Albie and Christopher.

  Me with my mom and dad at a family wedding.

  No explanation needed!

  Meeting Jay Leno and doing The Tonight Show was one of the greatest “pinch myself” moments of my life.

  Albert and I loved visiting Kathy Griffin backstage at her Broadway show.

  Can you believe a fan made this cake for a Real Housewives event that we did? It was so cool!

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